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TV News keeps reporting a significant new space project devised by NASA and funded by American taxpayers to the tune of $93 billion by today's estimates. No doubt as years pass by that figure will increase exponentially. Vaguely interested in what this project is all about I read up about it on Wikipedia and also read an opinion piece from "The Observer" newspaper. It was headed thus:-
The Observer view on the Artemis deep space project: $93bn? Worth every cent
...and this was the concluding paragraph:-
Anders, Armstrong and the other Apollo astronauts had a profound impact in changing our perspectives of our world. Their observations and experiences underlined the fragility of the Earth and played a key role in the birth of the environment movement in the late 1960s. From that perspective, lunar travel can be seen to have provided value for money and suggests there is still something to be gained from continuing to put men and women into space. Working out the exact price tag is more problematic but the placing of human beings on the surface of another world should be looked at as an act that is generally beneficial to our species.
Most happily, I question several of these remarks - clearly made by a space enthusiast. For example, I am flabbergasted by the suggestion that the Apollo astronauts played a key role in the birth of the environment movement! The so-called environment movement goes back much further in time than the 1960's and also there are many who would argue that space missions have generally been very unfriendly to the environment. They burn up precious fuel and leave masses of debris floating around in space. And why should we accept the assumption that space missions such as Artemis are "generally beneficial to our species"?
Perhaps they are the opposite, taking focus away from the many issues that beset us here on Earth. We could do so much direct good here in our troubled world with $93 billion.
Anyway, when they build the moon station with its little rough terrain buggies, spacemen and spacewomen will be able to collect plenty more lifeless grey dust. Furthermore, when they make a similar community on Mars, they'll be able to collect lots of lifeless red dust.
And I'm sorry but those buckets of dust and all those scientific observations will not put food in children's bellies nor tackle climate change nor find a cure for malaria. To me it all seems like a massive distraction but no doubt NASA, space enthusiasts and countless scientists in an array of universities around the world will continue to promote the notion that it is all for the good of mankind and only ignorant fools like yours truly would dare to question their holy mantra.
I really don't know what I feel about this. I think the space exploration is useful in some ways....many really. But, what I would like to see is more and varied experimental exploration. Especially ocean exploration. Where we might find that it really would be possible to colonize in the future. Although I am not sure that we should do that before we learn not to destroy what we already have!
ReplyDeleteBut you are right in your surmise that first we need to feed and cloth and educate the people on this earth and manage the health of the planet that we are so bound and determined to destroy at the moment. If in 100 years (or less) humanity on this earth has destroyed the planet and themselves in the process......well, what was the point of all that extraterrestrial exploration and all those billions of dollars spent if there is nobody left to go to outer space?
Your last question could easily be my question Donna. Thanks for calling by again.
DeleteI'm a space enthusiast but mostly agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI am also a space enthusiast. Powerful telescopes continue to reveal more and more but this is where we live.
DeleteWell, yours truly, you're not an ignorant fool. Space exploration has not brought any benefit and it doesn't seem like it will. We will have to spend much more on the environment unless we lose it first and then we won't have to worry about money.
ReplyDeleteWe do seem to be approaching the Doomsday scenario you are referring to. That is where mankind's focus should be. It is getting urgent so why dream of a colony on Mars?
DeleteI agree, I think we need to look at the problems here and deal with those first. My husband would disagree.
ReplyDeleteMillions of Africans struggle to find clean drinking water and yet space enthusiasts are dreaming of a colony on Mars.
Delete$93billion would house and feed an awful lot of homeless and starving people. I question the idea of people living on other planets too.
ReplyDeleteImagine Christmas: "Aren't you coming for Christmas this year?"
"We wanted to but we missed the flight and the next one isn't for another three years."
I would rather have a "Mars" bar. Do you have them in Oz?
DeleteYes! and they are delicious, although ruinous for teeth and diets.
DeleteLike Margaret, I am a space enthusiast but can not deny the truth in your arguments.
ReplyDeleteI would be happy enough with discoveries from increasingly powerful telescopes. Do we really need to go out into space?
DeleteWhat have we learned from space travel? Well some developed technology that benefits us has come from space travel. We know a lot more about space, the moon and planets. All very interesting but I am just not seeing a good benefit to the world by space travel. Have you benefited? Have I? Has an Amazonian hunter or a Bangladeshi rock breaker benefited? I think not.
ReplyDeleteBut where would we be without non-stick pans? I see that as the main achievement
DeleteDon't we already know enough about the Moon? It's dusty, cannot sustain human life, and has absolutely no charms. Why go back?
ReplyDeleteThey might find The Clangers. That's the only good reason I can think of.
DeleteThere are a lot of spin off technologies from the engineering that went into Apollo that we benefit from everyday, the drive to make electronics smaller, advances in medical monitoring, and then we stopped for decades. Your phone has more memory and processing capacity than we used to land on the moon. The world grows enough food, we have an economic and distribution breakdown.
ReplyDeleteI think that the side-benefits of space travel are almost unintended spin-offs. Imagine if all that brain power and funding had been put into projects that were directly focused on benefiting mankind. By the way I have no phone apart from our landline.
DeleteI agree.
ReplyDelete"What A Waste" - Ian Dury and the Blockheads comes to mind. Or the first verse of 'Imagine' by John Lennon.
ReplyDeleteAgree entirely with your comments YP. Though I understand that the single useful spin-off is the microwave oven! Imagine how much that must have cost initially, and now you can buy one for less than 50 GBP (or euros) from Lidl!
ReplyDeleteAside from the tangible technological benefits others pointed out, I think space travel ignited an optimism and excitement that has given humanity an intangible boost for decades. I think the budgets need to be responsibly managed and balanced with what we need to do here on earth, but I would never want to see us stop exploring space.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you sentiments. Sometimes it is like giving these technicians a box of lego then saying now go and make something with it. Could it be that rich buggers like Elon Musk need to flee the Earth because it is becoming overcrowded and mined to in one degree of its capability?
ReplyDeleteI look at the price tag differently. It isn’t about sending people to space. It is about advancing technology to do so. Some of those technologies that exist because we sent people to space are, solar cells, infrared, phone cameras, LASIK, LEDs, computer technologies, freeze drying, etc.
ReplyDelete